Mock-doc horror movies brings scares closer to home

Despite its successes, 'Paranormal Activity 2' is still standard fare familiar to fans of "things that go bump-in-the-night" cinema. Objects mysteriously fly off the walls and chairs creak while dark shadows and off-screen noises amp atmosphere. Simply put, it's a good old-fashioned ghost story. So why the massive response? It's all in the delivery. The 'Paranormal Activity 2' modus operandi follows the original film, with the events unfolding on shaky hand-held camcorders and hidden cameras operated by the characters in the film.

A Docu-Horror Picture Show that can't find the primal terror in the fake-documentary format

When 'The Blair Witch Project' became an phenomenon more than a decade ago, one of the most startling developments was how few attempts there were to rip it off. It took a long time for copycats to emerge: the Spanish thriller '[REC],' remade in America as 'Quarantine'; 'Cloverfield'; 'The Fourth Kind'; and last year's 'Paranormal Activity.' It's a brilliant formula, but 'The Last Exorcism' shows what happens when you take the basic building blocks but forget to deliver anything, you know, scary. Grade: C.